WHAT IT IS TO PROCLAIM THE NAME OF THE LORD.

To proclaim the name of the Lord, therefore, is to do what Jesus did; it is to make known Jesus; it is to show Him who showed the Father; it is to hold Him up of whom it may be said, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” There is no God out of Jesus; there is no name of God but in the name of Jesus; and the being of God neither shall nor can be known otherwise than in the life, and acts, and government of Jesus.

What is meant by proclaiming the name of the Lord, is nearly equal to preaching the Gospel, if men understood what was meant by preaching the Gospel—a word in every body’s mouth; in the understanding, in the faith, of, alas, how few! If by preaching the Gospel be understood proclaiming the good news of the kingdom which Christ hath redeemed, and for which he is furnishing the kings and priests from all nations; to which dignity all men are invited through faith in his name; if by preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ be understood the making known of our God and Father, his mercy, his grace, his long suffering, his holiness, by making known the words and ways and works of his perfect image, to the end of renewing us in the same image, in righteousness and true holiness; then, indeed, there is a perfect identity between preaching the Gospel and proclaiming the name of God; for nothing is Gospel which is not seen to be in God, and from him flowing forth into Christ, and from him again flowing forth unto us, for the end of entwining that triple cord which cannot be broken. But a Gospel of a kingdom without a kingdom is no Gospel at all; a Gospel without the proclamation of grace and goodness to them who hear it; a Gospel of probabilities, of ifs and may-bes, is no good news at all, is no proclamation of the name of God; but a cunning delusion of the devil, and of ignorant or wicked men. If the Gospel were preached as it ought to be, it would be the full and perfect and sufficient word of the kingdom; and when the kingdom shall have come, it would be the Gospel accomplished, as the Gospel is the kingdom promised. When, therefore, the Jewish church thus speaks, “Proclaim his name,” it is merely signified that they shall take up that office which we Gentiles have failed in; which we now make a show and sham of performing by means of missionaries, who, if they dared to proclaim Christ and his kingdom, or the name of God, as it is, and ought to be preached, would soon be recalled by their masters, who abominate none so much as those who do so here at home.

The Jews, the Jews shall take up the work in which we have failed, to which we are proving our incompetency by the very efforts which we make: and yet may God speed these efforts; but the time is at hand, and now is, if I err not, when men of another school, with trumpets of another sound, shall go forth from the bosom of this land, and through the midst of heaven proclaim the name of the eternal God: “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come.”—Proph Ex.

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